Founder @DigitalDefynd| In love with people, music, happiness and creativity

Feb 19, 2016

Source : Newslaundry.com

The news just keeps getting better! For the uninformed, Newslaundry(NL) came up as a very interesting online news portal couple of years ago, to go behind the regular reporting and talk about what either gets missed by the headlines or make us meet the people who make the headlines.

They tried a very bold model as they began, one where they asked readers to pay for the content they read. Wikipedia

is one example that comes to mind where people ‘donated’ to keep the portal alive and kicking, but other than that, very few portals have successfully been able to monetise content by making people pay for it. This model allowed

Newslaundry to stay focused on content, and they seamlessly produced some fine content in the form of articles, videos with some of the stalwarts in the industry. That is specially why this news comes as a really pleasant surprise. Their email says –

“We are thrilled to announce Phase 2 of Mission Newslaundry. We have just closed a round of funding and have on board partners (investors for the formal types) in our mission, who have backed us with more than nods of appreciation and pats on our back. They have put money in the bank to help us grow. We are proud to inform you (and thrilled for ourselves) that Omidyar Network, Vikram Lal, Mahesh Murthy, Abhijit Bhandari and Shashank Bhagat (through United India Periodical Pvt Ltd) have invested in Newslaundry (for equity).”

In the world of digital media and marketing, where ads become the main source to make money, it is a refreshing change to

a) See a portal without ad stream as a revenue win the trust of investors.

b) Clutter free, sensible news and good journalism getting the backing of supporters.

c) Solidify one’s faith once again in the fact that Content is King.

Kudos to their team and look forward to more great stuff from the house of Newslaundry. (Who owns Newslaundry?)